The Gig Economy and Labour Precarity in Nigeria: Evidence from the Fintech Sector

This study seeks to interrogate the nexus between gig work and labour precarity in Nigeria. To this end, it will examine the case of remote workers in the rapidly growing fintech sector of the Nigerian economy. The study is anchored largely on the conviction that while there has been a growing body of work on the gig or platform economy, much of the efforts have been anchored on theoretical insights rather than thorough-going empirical investigations. The dearth of such empirical studies of the gig economy is especially prevalent in the global South particularly in Africa despite the strong emergence of gig work in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. But equally interesting is that the often-assumed linkage between the gig economy and labour precarity has rested mainly on apriority rather than nuanced observations of such linkage. Therefore, the study will respond to the above lapses through a case study of the fintech sector in Nigeria.